Stop Treating Every Field the Same: Planning for 2027

What worked on your farm in 2026? What didn't? And, maybe more importantly, what are you going to do differently in 2027?

Dr. Eric Scherder of Corteva Agriscience returns to Farm4Profit to look back at the 2026 growing season and help farmers think through their agronomy plans for the year ahead.

From cover crops and weed management to nitrogen stabilization, one theme keeps coming up throughout the conversation: don't treat every field the same.

Cover Crops Need a Purpose

Cover crops continue to generate plenty of conversation in agriculture, but Eric says success starts with understanding exactly what you're trying to accomplish.

Are you trying to reduce erosion? Manage nitrates? Suppress weeds? Improve soil health?

Simply getting seed onto a field doesn't necessarily mean you've accomplished your goal.

Farmers need to think about establishment, species selection, timing and what they're going to do with that cover crop when spring arrives. A good stand matters, but so does having a termination strategy that fits the following crop and herbicide program.

The goal shouldn't be to plant a cover crop just to say you planted one. It should be another agronomic tool being used to solve a specific problem.

Start Clean and Stay Clean

The conversation then turns to one of the biggest challenges farmers continue to face: weeds.

Eric emphasizes the importance of starting clean, using multiple effective modes of action and layering residual herbicides throughout the season.

That becomes especially important as farmers continue pushing soybean planting dates earlier.

An early-planted soybean may have a much longer window between planting and canopy, giving weeds more opportunities to emerge. That makes residual herbicides and a well-planned weed management program even more important.

But herbicides aren't the only tool available.

Cover crops, no-till, crop rotation, row spacing and technologies like See & Spray can all become pieces of a broader weed-management strategy.

Rather than looking for one product or practice to solve every problem, Eric encourages farmers to use the entire agronomic toolbox.

Protecting One of Your Biggest Investments

Nitrogen represents a significant investment in every corn crop, which makes protecting that investment an important part of profitability.

The guys discuss the perennial question of fall versus spring nitrogen application and why there isn't necessarily one answer that works for every operation.

Weather, soil conditions, equipment, labor and available application windows all influence when nitrogen gets applied.

What matters is understanding the potential pathways for nitrogen loss and managing those risks.

Eric explains how products such as N-Serve and Instinct Next Gen are designed to help keep nitrogen in the ammonium form longer. By slowing the conversion process, farmers can help reduce the opportunity for nitrogen to move out of the root zone or be lost before the crop can use it.

And nitrogen stabilization isn't exclusively a fall conversation.

Depending on the application method, timing and conditions, stabilization can also play a role in protecting spring-applied nitrogen.

Build a Plan Around Your Farm

One of the biggest takeaways from the conversation is also one of the simplest:

Don't treat every field the same.

Different fields have different soils, drainage, weed pressure, fertility, management histories and yield potential. What makes sense on one field may not make sense on the next.

Use what happened during the 2026 growing season to identify opportunities for 2027.

Maybe that's experimenting with a cover crop. Maybe it's changing your residual herbicide strategy. Maybe it's looking harder at nitrogen timing and stabilization. Or maybe it's testing a new technology on a few acres before expanding it across the farm.

The important thing is to understand the problem you're trying to solve, work with trusted local advisors and make decisions based on the realities of your own operation.

Because a better agronomy plan isn't necessarily about doing more.

It's about doing the right things in the right places.

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